By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Grass cutting will be increased after complaints in a Gloucestershire borough as councillors agree to spend £30,000 on stopgap solution.
Tewkesbury Borough Council had an arrangement in place for many years for grass cutting on Gloucestershire County Council land in the borough.
Shire Hall pays for two cuts per year whereas historically the Borough Council has cut the grass to the same frequency as its own land which is between eight and 12 cuts depending on the weather.
However, this arrangement ended for the 2025 grass cutting season and the County Council arranged for a different contractor to undertake grass cutting on its land in Tewkesbury Borough alongside some parish councils.
However, councillors have raised concerns the areas cut by Shire Hall have reverted back to only being cut twice, the expectation of residents remains that it would be cut more frequently, according to the Borough Council.
In some areas solutions have been put in place by parish councils entering into their own agreements with the County Council – however this is not the case for every area.
The Borough Council has decided to revisit this issue and councillors have agreed to spend £30,000 on two extra cuts this year while developing long term options.
Council leader Richard Stanley (LD, Cleeve West)presented the interim solution at last night’s (July 29) council meeing.
“It’s fair to say when we look around we can see that the grass cutting over the last year has not delivered what we would have wished.
“We know there have been residents who have raised concerns and councillors alike.
“I asked that officers bring a paper back to council for us to discuss and debate this evening.”
He said beyond the interim proposal a long term solution would be needed.
“We know our council unfortunately does have a shelf life now. We will be part of local government reorganisation so anything we are putting in place for the long term with the parish and county council.”
The council is launching a process which asks councillors to highlight areas of concern.
They would then check if it’s an area previously cut or whether somebody else is and then liaise with Gloucestershire County Council.
Councillor Matt Dimon-Brown (G, Tewkesbury South) asked for conditions to balance biodiversity and safety.
He asked that “tidy not be used as a proxy for safe”.
“One person’s neat verge can be another’s ecological nightmare,” he said.
Cllr Stanley said he was happy to share the sentiment and asked for reassurance from officers.
They said in the interim it would be about getting back on top of the grass cutting.
“It is very contentious, isn’t. One man’s weed is another man’s flower,” director of communities Peter Tongue said.
He asked councillors who are looking for something specific on biodiversity to speak to the community.
Cllr Stanley said: “We are putting something in place now so our parish and town councils have time to prepare and work with us and the County Council.
“The key issue really is when we voted originally as part of the budget that we would hand this back to the County Council with the thoughts they would take this work on.
“Our town and parish councils some did take on that work, many had not precepted, budgeted for the extra work.
“By us this evening taking an interim position what we are actually enabling is our town and parish councils the breathing space and us to get back on top of the cuts.
“When we get the full paper back we will have proposals that our town and parish councils and County Council can then make a more long term decision and plan.
“What that may look like is that town and parish councils say yes, OK, we think we would like to take these areas because we know Tewkesbury Borough won’t be here forever and we can plan that in our budgets.”
The council voted to approve the proposal. Long term proposals would be debated at another meeting in September or October.